Another Trip West of Texas (Part 2) Feb 18-19, 2011

THE MYSTIC KNIGHTS OF THE COBRA!

Petaluma, CA.

I’d never heard of it before this trip. It’s about an hour or so north of the Bay Area, a part of CA I’d never explored before. So I hopped in the rental car, and drove through the scary torrential rain to the rolling hills and open wide space of Petaluma. Holy crap this place is beautiful. I managed to outrun the rain heading northward, so I had a few semi-dry hours while in CA at least. California is so unbelievably beautiful… even when it’s rainy. Sometimes I have a hard time containing this west coast heartache, especially when we’re buried in snow and ice.

About 3/4 of the way there I pulled off the highway to get a coffee and some breakfast, and of all places, I pulled into the Hamilton Marketplace. I swear, Hamilton is EVERYWHERE. (Hamilton’s a town in NJ that I lived in for a long time in case you don’t know). I grabbed a really expensive coffee at Peet’s, ate a pop tart and continued on my way to the matinee show. I was super excited to see my friends the Mystic Knights of the Cobra play this show, as it’d been just about a year since I’d seen that crazy bunch of folks. I was surprised that they were awake that early but so very glad to get the chance to hang out a bit and see them rock the Phoenix theater. Car bombs in the morning? Yes.

I was particularly excited about this theater, as it was HUGE. It reminded me very much of the older venues in Asbury Park. You could tell at one point this place held some of the most fancy upscale events, but was just a shell of its former existence. Beautiful trim and engravings were all over the place, now covered with graffiti and art and show posters, it was a fascinating place to explore. Not to mention – the sound in that room was EPIC. Completely worth the drive to me!

I met quite a few fans who had flown in from around the world to see this show. There were several folks from Australia, and another chap from London. Serious stuff.

This show featured a band I’d heard of but not yet heard – the Star Fucking Hipsters from NYC. To be honest, the name turned me off at first. Well, I’m an idiot. They were freaking amazing. Cross gutter punk with ska and scathing hot metal… ohmigod. Great stuff.

STAR FUCKING HIPSTERS

THE BILLYBONES

All in all the sets were really solid from each band. After the show ended I ended up being rolled up in the Cobras’ chaos and we went to a party nearby before making our way back to Toot’s in Crockett. There I got to hang with so many good friends, it made me pretty depressed to know I had to fly home in the morning. But, I’m holding out hope that I’ll be following another band west later this year. Fingers crossed on that. We’ll have to wait and see!

The night ended with me heading to my good friend Rachel and Stef’s house, where I proceeded to witness Stef set his steak pie on fire. Good times. 🙂 After that, it was off to SFO to fly back east. So long, California… until we meet again.

Here are the pics from the Phoenix! Thanks to all the fans and bands for being so gracious and letting me shoot. Love you guys!